tttttttttttttttttttttttt-333333333333333333333333333333 tttttttttttttttttttttttt----| __ \----3333333333333 ----------tttt--------------| |__\ |---------333333333 ----------tttt--------------| ____/----------3333333 ----------tttt-_____----___-| \ -------3333333333333 ----------tttt-\ \--/ /-| |\ \----------3333333333 ----------tttt -\ \/ /--| |-\ \------------3333333 ----------tttt -/ \--| |--\ \______---333333333 ----------tttt /_____/\ \-|___|---\_______|333333333333 by crosstigervr ----------tttt---------\___\-----33333333333333333333333 ----------------------------------333333333333333333333 =============================================================================== CONTENTS: -version info 1.Disclaimer 2.Intro 3.Buying your car 3.Engine -a.swaps -b.tuning 4.Brakes 5.Suspension 6.Drivetrain 7.Transmission 8.Techniques -a.shifting -b.turning/braking -c.battle -d.drifting -e.other 9.Mini Walkthrough 10. DIY's by Pink Angel 11.Conclusion 12.Credits ================================================================================ Version info: 1.00 Probably won't be changed after this but you never know. ================================================================================ 1)DISCLAIMER: If you are planning to use this FAQ or any of it's contents for another website, you can e-mail me at VRsuperZ@g-mail.com. ================================================================================ 2)INTRO: This FAQ was created by me to help players put their cars together so they could progress in the game as well as understanding how it works. This FAQ will show you how to get the most out of your car so it's easier to win races and clock in faster times. Any further questions? Ask vrsuperz@gmail.com. ================================================================================ 3)BUYING YOUR CAR: There is a variety of cars in this game to pick from. Yes, some are better than others. But no, there is no best car. There are just some better cars than others starting with..... -MCR R34 GT-R: Dealer: Special Price: 914,800cp Power: 677 PS/8000rpm Torque: 67.6kgm/6560rpm Aspiration: Turbo Drivetrain: 4WD Mass: --kg Difficulty:Easy-Intermediate By far this car is the fastest out of the box. It's good in nearly all areas. Feels lose to begin with but its really just tight handling. Top speed is easily from around 204-211mph. You can't set the downforce, power distribution or braking. That doesn't matter. The car adopts to any weather and performs well.No doubt about it does the MCR GT-R get great times in any track and come as a good deal. The price tag seems high but it isn't when you compare it to a fully tuned car that sometimes cannot match the performance. There are drawbacks to this car though. One, you can't get it any parts. So no wheel picking,etc. You're stuck at 677ps. Then, the car is bound to be beaten in Time Attack by another car. It's really just a car with everything you need at a high level. -Impreza WRX STi Type RA Spec C(GDB): Dealer: Subaru Price: 68,000cp Power: 280 PS/6800rpm Torque: 40.0kgm/4400rpm Aspiration: Turbo Drivetrain: 4WD Mass: 1310kg Difficulty:Easy From an obvious standpoint, this car is the fastest off the line when fully tuned.The car stock isn't so great but when tuned it's one of the best. Acceleration kills and handling ain't so bad with that F4. Pretty light car. Not much I can say. It's simply a power house because it's Symmetrical 4WD system that carries the car fast. It's older brother, the GC8 is more drifty and yet lighter, but it's no match for this. The GDB easily grabs top times but still it can be outhandled by.... -Lancer Evolution V GSR(CP9A): Dealer: Mitsubishi Price: 52,600cp Power: 280 PS/6500rpm Torque: 38.0kgm/3000rpm Aspiration: Turbo Drivetrain: 4WD Mass: 1360kg Difficulty:Easy-Intermediate ...the one and only rival of the Impreza, the Evolution. This car seems to be a whole lot easier to drive and has a higher fun factor just as in real life. Stock it's a great car and easy to drive. From the stats you can see it's heaver, has less power, and less torque. Not to mention its housing a 5 speed, 2 liter L4. Somehow all that makes a good car and besides, it's cheaper. Now when tuned it's even better. It can out accelerate a lot of cars and handle too. It's Evolution VII counterpart is nothing compared to this. It's a fun one to try out. -RX-7 type RZ(FD3S): Dealer: Mazda Price: 59,300cp Power: 280 PS/6500rpm Torque: 32.0kgm/5000rpm Aspiration: Turbo Drivetrain: FR Mass: 1270kg Difficulty:Intermediate-Hard Containing a Rotary Turbo, this car has an equal weight distribution of 50/50. The stock performance is the best in the 280PS range. Torque seems low but some people don't notice it has a twin scroll turbo so the boost is on through most of the RPM's. Besides, were not going on mountains and rough terrain. The car is light plus a looker. Fully tuned it has good times and overall performance. One thing I've noticed with this FD though. Stock or modified it's capable of fast times but it's easy to mess up a racing line. This is RWD so you'll have to deal with some wheelspin. With a rotary though the wheel spin is low due to the low torque. I recommend this car for more advanced people. -Supra RZ(JZA80): Dealer:Toyota Price:63,300cp Power: 280 PS/5600rpm Torque: 46.0kgm/3600rpm Aspiration: Turbo Drivetrain:FR Mass: 1510kg Difficulty:Intermediate Don't let the weight fool you. This car is slow when stock, but it's pretty simple to drive when tuned. It can get to 230mph no problem. Hnadles easy. By easy I mean it can take a turn and hit no walls without effort, but it loses speed. It's mostly a good battle car. It's big and goes anywhere. -MR-S(ZZW30): Dealer:Toyota Price: 20,300 Power: 140 PS/6400rpm Torque: 17.4kgm/4400rpm Aspiration: NA Drivetrain: MR Mass: 970kg Difficulty:Hard Let's put it this way: Light car+MR+L6 Turbo swap=Perfect. Yup with a L6 and correct tuning this car is fast. But it's hard to use. Still can easily slip with all that power. This is like the RX-7. You need the correct line to feed the power without slipping. Cappuccino (EA11R): Dealer:Suzuki Price: 16,600cp Power: 64 PS/6500rpm Torque: 8.7kgm/4000rpm Aspiration: Turbo Drivetrain: FR Mass:700kg Difficulty: Intermediate-Hard This car is like the MR-S but with worse handling and overwhelming accereation when using the L6 turbo. It's a rocket on wheels but can cost you if you crash because starting up is a bit slippery. High end is a bit low but the acceleration is the point. Can race anywhere and will get good times. RX-8 Type S (SE3P) Dealer: Mazda Price: 37,900cp Power: 250PS/8500rpm Torque: 22.0kgm/5500rpm Aspiration: NA Mass:1310kg Difficulty: Very Hard I know what you're thinking. Is this guy stupid? No, I'm not. Beleive it or not this car is one of the best in the game. Shows on the track. It's capable of the fastest times. Driving it feels weird. Just like Initial D, it feels like it has massive understeer, especially when tuned. You'll have to find a perfect racing line like the RX-7. Could take you from a few turns to 10 tries. Some will say its easy to drive and is slow. They're wrong. You need to find that line. Pretty hard. That's pretty much it....other cars to quickly mention are: -Ford GT(Fast as hell but too expensive.) -180SX(simple to beat the game with) -Chaser(best starter from what people say) ================================================================================ 3)ENGINE: -a)Swaps: It's easier to explain this one by one. Some engines are not mentioned since they're pretty much useless. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stock: This engine more likely has something the swaps don't. Usually its lighter or one of a kind. The Ford GT I believe can gain up to 750ps, which no engine can do. Others I know of are: -Silvia S15: has a 6 speed L4 Turbo. Weird thing is, the L6 swap for it is unbelievably lame and the L4 swap is a 5 speed. -Mercedes S600L and :Its loaded with a V12 engine. -Viper GTS: It has a V10 inside it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NA: -V8: Hell I wouldn't have a NA secion but this engine is something. When you compare it to a V8 Turbo, it has a 6 speed,is lighter, and has Torque to support it properly. -RE: It's a 6 speed and was made for the RX-8. Just has more power than stock. This is heavier so the car may experience a bit more understeer. Think before you buy it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Turbo: -L4:Has a wide powerband and its light. Sure its a 5 speed but it's capable of good times like under 4 minutes in C1 with the right car. -L6:This was said to be the best swap. I disagree. Its the fastest straight away engine but it's handling can be beaten. -V6:This engine has good response but heavy. Very...average.... -V8: Highest horsepower but has no torque to support it. 5 speed's gearing is horrible. Pretty stable....and big. -F4:Best track engine. It may be heavier,and have less power and torque, but it conatins a 5 speed and its low center of gravity makes it handle perfectly. -F6: Its a F4 with low end torque. Odd thing is it can get high speeds easy with lighter cars and still keep smooth torque. It has less power and is heavier than the L4 but you'll notice the low end torque. -RE:Truthfully, this engine was only made for the RX-7's. They work PERFECTLY with them since they're based off a 50/50 weight balance. It does add more weight to the front but that's good so the car's are more stable to handle the power increase. Lightest engine of all turbo swaps ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -b)Tuning: The only thing that you can really tune are the turbo engines by controlling their boost. By increasing boost, you get more high end power and your car heats up faster. And by doing that, you lose compression, which gives more low end power and makes the engine heat up less. Simple chart if you were setting the amount: 0 1 2 3 Compression <--- Boost ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Low end power; ---> High end power; Engine doesn't heat Quicker heat up. up as fast. ================================================================================ 4)BRAKES: Before you start, I recommend you get brake set Level 4 instead of 5. If you read the descriptions, they are both race type designs. Just that Level 5 is bigger overall, adding weight. Sure Level 4 feels lose, but you'll adjust. Adjusting the brakes is pretty simple. Using the brake controller you can change the amount of braking power. More power in the rear makes the car oversteer and vise versa for the front. This is noticeable when you brake. Also, the less overall braking power, the faster the accelerration, but braking will take longer. ================================================================================ 5)SUSPENSION: This isn't an easy one to figure out. So to to start off, the bias of rates between front and rear are that if the front has a higher rate, oversteer. If the rear has a higher rate, stability. Then stiffness; the stiffer the less roll. The looser the less resistance. Chart: ("a" is for the ideal track setup) ("b" is for the ideal drag/wangan setup) |Front- |Oversteer, less stability. | | | | a | | | --------------------------------------|---------------------------------------- Softer- | Stiffer- More roll, less resistance. | More resistance, less roll | | | | | b |Rear- |Stability, understeer. To explain roll and resistance, you don't want to much of each. If you have too much roll, weight shifts further and you'll end up sliding. But more resistance means the car will not absorb shock and can't handle jumps well. Plus it makes the car resist so much it could just slide in a turn. What you should aiming for is that more power should have more stiffness and the more corners the more you stiffen the front. Since you have more power, the weight will shift when going in the general forward direction. The stiffer the more resistace against weight shift, saving you tenths of a second on a straight. ================================================================================ 6)DRIVETRAIN: Not much to tune here. Only with 4WD cars. The power distribution has a rather big affect. More in the rear results in oversteer, more in the front gets you stability. I'm sure I don't have to show you a chart. But anyways, the setup recommended is that you put more power in the rear. *Think, the car has its engine in the front. If you put more power in the rear the power distribution is pretty much equal and more frictionless(sorta). Usually people use 30F/70R. That makes the car become frictionless and makes it more manueverable. Something they don't know though. With aiming more power in the rear, you're likely to get wheelspin and will have to tune from there. There are higher odds of wheelspin becase every 4WD car in this game gets high power. It WILL happen. How I see it is: Smooth distribution with Greater aim towards the rear more a oversteer suspension > with a stable setup. setup. =============================================================================== 7)TRANSMISSION: Yes, we do have a gear ratio FAQ but that mostly stresses on high speed. Sure, boost up the final, but from how I've been doing my ratios, I've gone way faster. Charts...again(for anyone who doesn't get the concept): More speed Higher numbers/ratio---> More torque ---------------------------------------------------------------------- <---Lower numbers/ratio Some may wonder why I said torque instead of acceleration. Here's my reasoning in a short science lesson: It's really torque and speed that are opposites, not acceleration. Speed is the rate at which an object travels. Accleration is the rate in which speed increases. Torque is the rate in which how much force is applied. In order to get acceleration, is to add more torque. Therefore, acceleration is more a result rather than a factor. Back to the tuning. In order to get the ratios you want,go do a 1000m test. Then look carefully. Which gears seem to have a lower rate of acceleration? Once you find them, you can do one of following: -Increase the ratio in that gear(s). -Decrease the ratio in the previous gear so then it gets more speed. With more speed it will set the next gear to engage at a higher rpm. -Increase the final if none works. One thing you should always do is to decrease the ratio of first gear all the way because first, that gear has so much damn torque and creates wheelspin. Eliminating that wheelspin has a large effect in drag races. You could save as much as a second. Second, you never use 1st gear in a race. You always start in second. And in big crashes, its useless to keep racing anyway. Another thing you might do is make second gear have a low ratio too. 1st gear gives off a lot of speed to support 2nd and 2nd has a good amount of torque too. 3rd gear is also pretty fast then with all the gained speed so you could decrease it a bit. 4th and on is where you'll need the torque more. Pretty much that's it. ================================================================================ 8)TECHNIQUES: -a)Shifting: Basically this is for shift points. Do a few 1000m drags and use trial and error to find the best shift points. There is a thing though with back pressure though. It builds up. The more the slower. You can't beat it really. Doesn't have much of an effect anyway. My way of beating it is first, you need to know when it releases. Then, before you shift into that gear, shift early and shift back then shift again. There, you released the pressure and kept your standard acceleration. Really useless though. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -b)Turning: There's quite a bit of methods but the main principle is: Accleration-sends you out. Braking-sends you out. Not doing anything except turning-brings you in. The explanation is that if you accelerate, you giving power to resist the turn. If you brake, you're not letting the wheels rotate easy and then making the weight transfer to the front. Method 1-Out in out. Oldest trick in the book. You start the turn on the outside, then cut to the inside, and finish by exiting through the outside. Very fast and requires little braking compared to starting on the inside. Method 2-"Left foot" braking. This methed is an 8 year old child move. Fast too. In a turn while you're starting to veer out, tap the brake. This will transfer some weight to the front so the front wheels grip better. Useful for jumps before turns. Why called left foot braking? Because in real life, to do this method you use your left foot for the brakes. Method 3-Braking in general. This is how it works. Lower gear means faster braking since you are carrying less speed. High gear adds more braking distance. People think it's about braking power, but if you learn to distribute it perfectly you'll go faster. Method 4-In out in out(feint). This move sounds like a setup for out in out, but they are two different things.This seems to stress on exit speed. Here are some examples: Out in out(stars are car's path): ******************************* ________________________________* \* |* ________________________________/* * <<***************************** In out in out: ***** ************************** * ________________________________* \* |* ________________________________/* * * ******************************** or **** *** ** **************************** * ________________________________ * \ * | * ________________________________/ * * * ******************************** As you see, the exit is wider for speed. More likely the car will slide in this method. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -c)Drifting:Yes it's possible........... Method 1-Out in out: Since your car is more likely adjusted to drifting, this technique can easily break the traction. Method 2-Inertia Drift: Ok. You break into the turn, and as you do that, let go of the gas. Once you engage into the turn, hit the gas or brake, depending whether you're in a tight or wide turn. Thats it really. This technique broke the traction. This technique works by first shifting the weight distribution to induce a bit of oversteer and then traction produces the sliding effect. Method 3-Gutter/Dirt Drift: I beleive this techique is only possible in C1 outer where you have the S-turn after the 2nd toll booth like area(median?). To perfom this drift you use a gutter or anything slippery to loosen the rear. C1 outer has this downhill thing at the outside of the last part of that S turn. You really don't need to do much.Just don't go too fast. Otherwise its really simple. Countersteering is simple too. Method 4-Feint drift: Pretty much like "in out in out/feint". You start in, but when you go out, you do that to whip the rear. So you basically go out to in again pretty fast. Method 5-Clutch Kick Drift: IRL you pop the clutch and rev at the same time so break traction. Unfortunately,WE HAVE NO CLUTCH. Oh no. What should we do? This is a bit like the Initial D 5-in-4 out method(in fact every method sounds like an Initial D method). You downshift and up shift again when turning in. It breaks the traction by increasing the revs and torque. Great for high speed drifts.I find it more useful than the rest since this game is based on a large highway. Method 6: Someitmes the clutch kick has little effect so combine it with a feint drift. Can perform in tighter turns than the Clutch Kick itself and keeps speed well. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -d)Battle: Starting ahead: This technique for you to start ahead of the Rival. So you're behind your rival,speed up and the brake. While in the process flicker your lights. You need good timing for this. Drafting: This is debated to actually have effect. It's when you drive behind your opponent so there's little air resistance. I've barely noticed it but it's a heads up.. Blocking: We all know this but there is a another method I know of. When your opponent is right behind you, hit the brakes and shift down to the appropiate gear. The AI runs on assist(obviously) so we can tell the reaction is late for downshifting.Back to the process. After braking enough accelerate again. This should hold the Rival off a bit. This works best in turns. Inside plow: This technique is about staying on the inside of the turn to ride off your opponent for a lesser need of braking. Not only this makes you faster, but slows down your rival too. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -e)Other: 180(1): Well all know what a 180 is. Basically a U-turn. But to get some smoke from this,whip the car by going the opposite direction and then go into it. While doing this, hold the brake and gas at the same time and shift to first. Might take a few trys to prevent the car from turning forward again. This is recommended for FR cars. Once you 180 keep the gas floored. More smoke. 180(2): No speed here. Doing it from a standstill, just whip the car while flooring 1st gear. Pretty simple. 180(3): You're going reverse this time. This is way too easy. Go in reverse, then turn at full speed. ANY car can do this. 360(1): Just do 180(3). Same thing but some cars do a 360 instead. 360(2): I swear your cars handling has to be pretty slick to pull this off. Do the 180 but right after its completed, turn to the opposite direction to when you entered the 180(1). Some cars suck so much they'll do it easy. ================================================================================ 9) MINI WALKTHROUGH: This walkthrough is basically a bunch of pointers about taking on Darts and the 3Dragons, who are the toughest to beat since they're battles come immediately right after each other. -Notice their accleration; Dragons seem to get better high end power, Darts are the opposite. So therefore tune your car for low end power against Dragons, and high end power for Darts. This will give you an advantage. You can block the Dragons from the start if you're fast enough, and catch up to Darts... -Always take your opponent on turns. They suck at cornering most of the time. -Use my battle techniques. All of them help. -Squeeze out the most power as possible. Also lose all the weight. -Use boost for the last opponent. You can beat the first 2 or so with out it if you race them in turns. -Don't worry about racing the Corvette in Darts. Lose that race when first get there. Once you beat the GT-R's, you will be able to immediatelly take on the Corvette and Ford GT. -Learn to drive through toll booths fast. Give you a BIG advantage. ================================================================================ 10) DIY's by Pink Angel/WipeMe07:(I was given permission to add them.) -Cool R34 Bumper Purchase a Nissan Skyline R34 GTR Vspec II. Put all mods you want on your R34 and make sure if you do anything, make sure it is modifying the front bumper. Change it to level 2 front bumper in FRP(the cheapest material). Ok, now paint the car the color you want it to be. Now take it to body paint. Keep pressing R1 until you get to "front bumper". Paint it in the "body paint", the same color you painted your car(if you cant find the color your car is on the default colors panel, click "color" and adjust the color to the same color your car is, or just click spuit and click on your front bumper once, and click "paint" then click on your front bumper). Now go install your stock front bumper. Looks awesome huh? Your welcome. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -High Quality Look Carbom Fiber(CF) hood: Select the car you want to perform this on. Select any and all parts that you want equipped to the car(performance, and body parts). You must have colored body parts to do this DIY. If you know the cf glitch, and perform it, then you will be as light as possible, while still looking good. Now, take your car to your "Sticker Set". Click on one of the squares that has "No Data" on them. Press R1, and then press X(and pick yes when it asks you if you want to select this sticker). Now, goto the "Body Paint" section. Click R1 until you get to "Hood". Click on "Stickers". Then click on the right arrow, until you get to the sticker i told you to click X on. If you put it in the first square, then you do not have to press any arrows. Now click on the left arrow on the response once. Click the right arrow on the Zoom once or twice, depending on how steady your hand is. Now stamp one sticker anywhere on the hood. Click on the move option for the sticker, and move it into the top right or left corner. Do not let any part of the sticker be cutoff. Now, click on the stamp option, then stamp another one anywhere on the hood. Click the move option again, move it to the top right or left corner, depending on which spot you put the first sticker on, you should put it right next to it. Now you do the bottom the same way. You should only have 4 stickers on the hood. Zoom out alittle, and make sure all spots are filled. Now click on "Preview", your hood should look like High-Quality CF. And the patterns should be perfect, if you did this correctly. Once you learn how to use this sticker enough, you should be able to make your own High-Quality spoilers, trunks, roofs, or even your whole car, there is no limit to your imagination. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -Cool Supra Tailights: Purchase a supra(JZA80). goto the dress up section. goto Taillight, then click on the "eyelines" and pick the only one you can get, then buy it in dry carbon fiber. Now go to blinkers, and pick type 1. The brake lights flicker and the blinkers looks awesome. ================================================================================ 11)CONCLUSION: Ok, I hope you've learned something like this. Now go play and get better. Hope to see you at some time attack races! Any further questions? E-mail me at vrsuperz@gmail.com. ================================================================================ 12)CREDITS: I would first like to thank CJayC for allowing me to come to one of the only places I go to, his awesome website, GameFAQs. Pink Angel-for the DIY's. MyTotaledTahoe-for sorta proofreading it. END!